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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Taking Care of Business Martha Graham Style

Got 250 business cards in the mail today. Feeling excited and quite professional for something that started as a hobby. Who knows if anything will ever come of these cards? In a dream world- a book deal. In my world, maybe another paid freelance article. In someone else's world, maybe the first thing in a garbage can. But it feels like a move in the right direction. A friend o fmine has just started culinary school and although he doesn't know if he wants to work in a kitchen or own his own catering business or be a private chef, he knows he is on the right path. He shared with me this quote from Martha Graham:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others”
In other words, just keep moving forward, creating, doing what you do, writing shitty blog posts, and funny film reviews, and a deeply personal memoir. Play soccer, hard, the only way you know how. No one else can create what I create. No one else plays like I play. No one else's dances the way I dance. Make business cards and hand them out in the world. This is your job as an artist- show up for yourself. Put art and questions and beauty into the world and don't for one minute wait for some sort of approval. Another great Graham quote: “What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.” Its not even that important to know what you think of yourself or your art. It is your duty to create and to create without fear, without censorship, without self-editing. In the words of Nike, Just do it.